RAIL falls behind privacy rally despite Railgun's value locked record in February

Railgun activity remained elevated in February, despite the overall market downturn. The mixer remains one of the key products in the Ethereum ecosystem that may see growth in the coming years, as privacy remains a concern. 

Railgun holds peak value locked, showing robust activity as one of the most widely used mixers. The rise of Railgun offers an alternative to Tornado Cash for regular activity and has been adopted by DeFi users to disguise positions. 

Total value locked on Railgun expanded to over $113M, with most of the value on the Ethereum network. Polygon, Arbitrum, and BNB Chain make up the small remainder. As Cryptopolitan reported, Ethereum is seeking to upgrade its ecosystem, seeking AI assistance and viable use cases. 

Railgun expanded its value locked in February, still showing robust transaction activity used in DeFi. | Source: Dune Analytics

Railgun achieved $269K in fees for February, slightly lower compared to March. However, the size of transfers is also expanding, showing that larger DeFi clients trust the protocol. 

Vitalik Buterin has used Railgun on multiple occasions, though some of his latest transfers are not anonymized. Railgun is also expanding through dedicated wallets and a privacy toolkit, which can be integrated in DeFi apps. 

Railgun grew as crypto mixing returned

Railgun claims to offer privacy for legal users. However, threat actors also adapted and expanded their usage of mixers. According to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, mixing is back after the end of sanctions against Tornado Cash. 

According to the researchers, sanctions reshaped the mixing ecosystem. While Tornado Cash was the leader in the 2020-2022 period, sanctions led to a diversified mixer market. 

Other protocols had the advantage of not tainting funds, as exchanges may still be reluctant to accept funds linked to Tornado Cash. Railgun emerged as the leading protocol, with a share of 13% in 2022 and over 71% in 2025. 

The main funds moving through Railgun are WETH, USDT, USDC, and DAI, showing the influence of DeFi as the main driver. 

Railgun scans the funds at entry based on a database of tainted wallets. However, this approach has failed to catch funds from recent exploits, as hackers now shift their haul much faster.

Other pools check for the origin of funds when withdrawing assets. For now, Railgun has managed to see acceptance, allowing counterparties to move funds to exchanges without revealing previous transaction details. 

RAIL slides despite Railgun usage

RAIL tokens slid to $1.02, erasing over 46% in the past month. RAIL is unraveling from a previous rally that boosted privacy tokens. 

Despite the project’s prominence and promotion, RAIL lacks listings on major exchanges. As the token relies on DeFi liquidity, its price reflects the market sentiment directly. RAIL has also been immune to concentrated pumps from centralized exchanges. 

The mindshare of RAIL is also down by 46% recently, as the token does not offer immediate signs of rallying.

For now, RAIL is pressured in a similar way to other coins and tokens. RAIL has historically outperformed, with significant short-term rallies of up to 40%, but is still pressured by long-term altcoin weakness.

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